page_title: Old Colony Lines
section_title: Cape Cod service
hierarchical_section_title: Old Colony Lines / History / Cape Cod service
caption_attribution_description: English: MBTA bilevel cars on the CapeFLYER at Hyannis Transportation Center
context_page_description: The Old Colony Lines are a pair of branches of the MBTA Commuter Rail system, connecting downtown Boston, Massachusetts with the South Shore and cranberry-farming country to the south and southeast. The two branches operate concurrently for 10 miles via the Old Colony Mainline from South Station to Braintree station. The Middleborough/Lakeville Line then winds south through Holbrook, Brockton, Bridgewater, Middleborough, and Lakeville via the Middleborough Main Line and Cape Main Line. The Kingston/Plymouth Line heads southeast to serve Weymouth, Abington, Whitman, Hanson, Halifax, Kingston, and Plymouth by way of the Plymouth Branch.
  In fiscal year 2013, the Middleborough/Lakeville line averaged 7,182 and the Kingston/Plymouth Line 6,560 one-way riders per weekday, for a combined daily ridership of 13,742 – a substantial decrease from daily averages exceeding 19,000 several years before.
context_section_description: Original plans for the reopening of the Middleborough/Lakeville Line in the 1990s called for service to Wareham or beyond; however, plans were scaled back, and, when the line reopened in 1997, service was restored only to Middleborough/Lakeville.  In 2007, the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization released a report evaluating the possibility of extending regular full-year commuter rail service to Buzzards Bay (on the north side of the Cape Cod Canal opposite Bourne), including several intermediate stops.  However, other projects (such as the restoration of service on the Greenbush Line) received priority, and the extension to Buzzards Bay was not constructed.
  The CapeFLYER service to Hyannis on Cape Cod via the Middleborough/Lakeville Line began in May 2013.  The service is operated by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA), in collaboration with the MBTA and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT); it uses standard MBTA commuter equipment.  The CapeFLYER is the first regular passenger service to Cape Cod from Boston since the 1960s.
  The relative success of the CapeFLYER has brought new attention to the possibility of extending the Middleborough/Lakeville Line to Buzzards Bay.  The possibility was seriously discussed before the end of its first summer season.  In September 2013, the Wareham Chamber of Commerce announced that, based on the success of the CapeFLYER, the Chamber supported the extension of commuter rail service to Buzzards Bay.  The Buzzards Bay town selectmen similarly supported the idea later that year, and a public forum was held in January 2014.
  Bourne’s Transportation Advisory Committee began studying the possibility in mid-2014, with the addition of work by MassDOT's Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) in November 2014.  A Local Impact Report released in April 2015 proposed an 800 foot (240 m) high-level platform and two parking alternatives: a 120-space modification of the existing lot, or a 400-to-600-space structure (including a realignment of Academy Drive).  The CTPS data estimated ridership at 875 daily riders if all Middleborough trains were extended to Buzzards Bay, or slightly fewer with a limited number of trains.
  Bourne voted to join the MBTA district in 2015 and began paying an assessment in mid 2016 (for FY 2017), although there was no guarantee that commuter rail service would be provided in the fiscally constrained environment.  For FY 2017, Bourne paid $41,707 to the MBTA (plus an existing $88,429 to the CCRTA for existing bus service).  MassDOT began planning a possible commuter rail trial service in October 2015.  In February 2016, state representatives and CCRTA administrator Thomas Cahir said that the state wished to begin trial service during FY 2017—possibly by the end of 2016. As of November 2018, commuter rail service has not been extended to Cape Cod.
caption: The CapeFLYER runs over the Middleborough/Lakeville Line on its way to Hyannis station (pictured) on summer weekends
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